The Scourge Of Racism
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As I have stated before, many professing American Christians live and their churches carry on as though Jesus--their ostensible Lord--is dead (1 Corinthians 15:12-19)! Dead men cannot lead or govern from Hades and are completely cut off from this life (Psalm 88:10-12). “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,” (Psalm 16:8-11; 1 Corinthians 15:20, NKJV). So, upon announcing His authority and giving charge to His disciples in all generations (the ones standing before Him would die) He declares, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age,” (Matthew 28:18-20, NKJV). As He worked with the first disciples to build His Church, so, those that are His last (Matthew 16:15-18; Mark 16:20; Acts 2:1-41, 47, 4:1-4, 5:12-14).
Christ reigns with all authority over all to include His Church from the throne of God to which He ascended (Philippians 2:6-11; Colossians 1:15-18; Hebrews 1:1-4)! About sixty years or so later He spoke to seven churches of Asia and broadly to all in every generation to follow through His last living apostle, John, with mostly rebuke and warning in what is the last book of Scripture (Revelation 1:9-3:22). Living in believers, He continues His Lordship in real time; giving among other things vision, commands, knowledge, rebuke and warning to those who will hear Him from Scripture (Romans 4:3a) and the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:27-30). As this edited 2012 repost asserts, not without consequences are any professing Christians and churches treating Jesus as dead; doing as they please.
Originally Posted August 5, 2012
A powerful truth in John 15:5 being ignored in many churches today is the Lord instructing, “…for without Me you can do nothing,” (NKJV). I say this after being in and around American churches from coast to coast since childhood where I have seen the unmistakable pattern of religious authority, human strength and works in action that are an artificial imitation of biblical Christianity. The Bible teaches Jesus is the Head over His Church and the Holy Spirit the empowering source of the activity He wills to the glory of God the Father (Ephesians 1:22-23, 3:14-21)!
Perhaps we have misunderstood; the “much fruit” that the Lord refers to in John 15:5 is in accord with His leadership (which presumes abiding in Him and Him in us) in the power of the Holy Spirit who is our Helper (NKJV). It is impossible for this fruit to be produced in the flesh. Therefore, if we kick the Lord Jesus to the curb as our “first love” (Revelation 2:4, NKJV) or in willful disobedience do our own thing in His name, we are doing nothing. This is evident in the very sad, fruitless state of so many churches today with either passive dispassionate or selfishly ambitious, tyrant pastors attempting to make a name for themselves to climb the religious corporate ladder or leave brick and mortar legacies.
There are elders and deacon boards that wickedly conspire to control pastors and churches. Church fights and splits are common along with thefts and sexual immorality. Churches with money in the bank display what they think is spiritual power when they do whatever flesh works seem right to them; offering token prayer petitions for what they intend to do anyway. Other churches steeped in tradition and manmade religion endlessly entertain themselves with annual events to raise money to do little or nothing of what the Lord wills. Is it any wonder that exercising spiritual or grace gifts--another aspect of doing things in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit--is not taken seriously in such churches?
Spiritual gifts are supernatural abilities the triune God gives as a matter of grace to each person that believes on Christ and is indwelt by the Holy Spirit at the new birth (John 1:12-13). So basic to the Christian’s ability to function in God’s program and the Church is the Holy Spirit, one cannot even say from the heart “Jesus is Lord” except with His enablement (1 Corinthians 12:1-3, NKJV). Nothing Christians have been commissioned by Christ to do can be done without the agency of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts--nothing! Now, there are many gifts, callings and ministries members of the Body of Christ have and all flow from the triune God by way of the working of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4-11).
No pastor or local church can say to any member, “you or your gifts are not needed here” since it is God who places each member in the Body as He wills by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). No pastor or church can declare as some have that certain of the New Testament gifts are no longer in play since it is the Lord who has established the purpose, function and order of spiritual gifts in the Church (1 Corinthians 12:28-30; Ephesians 4:7-11). Indeed, it is because of the faithless, flesh driven dissertations of especially the guilty religious educated elite devoid of the Spirit that the spiritual bedlam I have seen and experienced in so many churches of various ethnicities and sizes exists today.
Again, the only remedy God provides for this is revival if proud and withering men will see their wicked ways and seek Him for it in all confession, repentance and heartfelt petition before it is too late. Otherwise, the aspiring strong man of God in the image of Christ accepts his gift(s), calling and ministry as part of accepting his assigned roles from God. Specifically, he will yearn with love and zeal to serve the divine purposes as a son of God, disciple of Christ and servant through the spiritual gifts, calling and ministry he has been given by the Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 20:7-9; 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13)! There are no exceptions; every believer has at least one spiritual gift to serve God with.1 The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 In 1992 a Fort Worth, Texas church first allowed me to present instruction on the Lord’s spiritual gifts out of the teaching gift I have been given. I have continued to in-
struct on this very important subject as a pastor and welcome any opportunities to do so now through our Strong Man Institute. I am also now in the process of devel-
oping Strong Man Of God resources on the topic to help Kingdom minded pastors and seeking Christians. Let me know of your interest by answering a single survey
question on the Feedback Page of our Web Site. In the meantime, as the Lord has led, I have laid a foundational introduction to the service of aspiring strong men of
God in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics. I urge every Christian reading this that seeks even a basic, biblical introduction to what serving God in the
Church is supposed to look like to get a copy of the book.
Having just spent time giving serious thanks to God for all of His blessings this Thanksgiving, the Lord again directs my attention to the persecution being suffered by my Christian brethren among many nations. Though I do not write a lot about the ongoing persecution of Christians, I stay regularly informed and prayerful for all. The aforementioned “all” includes not just the suffering faces of those in faraway lands such as North Korea and Nigeria, but increasingly, those enduring persecution in this Western hemisphere and our own nation. Truly, growing hostility toward and persecution of Bible believing Christians in America is a reality that can no longer be dismissed as only isolated.
As a supporter of similarly named, but organizationally unrelated Open Doors USA, our Ministry regularly receives their reports on what is happening among our persecuted Christian brethren around the world.1 Not only are our brethren suffering from family and community exclusion within the nations they live, but government harassment, arrests, unfair trials, incarceration, legally sanctioned mob violence and martyrdom. When the Christian men are targeted for incarceration or murder, it leaves their families to suffer. While Communist and Islamic run nations fill the list of persecutors, nations such as Christian Eritrea, Hindu India and Buddhist Bhutan are also prominent.2
It is about to get really real for those of us that profess to be Christians in America too. Intensifying opposition to the biblical faith once on the fringe of American society is going mainstream. Moral tenets of the faith once taken for granted as absolute and bedrock to American society are not only being challenged, but cast down as no longer acceptable. These are not just tenets governing marriage and family for example, but definitions of objective truth, right and wrong, good and evil as well as justice and injustice. In the wake of this swiftly moving river of moral upheaval, Christians that would dare stand firm for the moral tenets of our faith are suffering varying degrees of persecution.
Besides the “in-your-face” government policies and litigations to remove crosses and nativity scenes as public displays of Christianity to implement falsely believed constitutionally mandated church and state separation, some Christians have suffered being demoted or fired from employment because they had Bibles at their work stations or read them on breaks. And because many secular entities have a “corporate culture” now, that does not tolerate religious expression (though, they publicly trumpet “inclusion” and “diversity” as values), being hired a Christian with a social media presence may be very difficult and once hired, witnessing Christ to co-workers is out.3
American secular colleges and universities that have historically celebrated tolerating various viewpoints as a means in the process of vigorous, but polite debate to sharpen the thinking of young minds have in too many instances today, hung out the “not welcome” sign to a biblical worldview. Biblically conservative Christian students are routinely singled out and held up to ridicule for their faith. Christian professors do not escape either.4 The secular media regularly ignores and mocks Christians that hold to a biblical worldview being quick only to report on high profile “Televangelists” and “Megachurch Pastors” whose sins come to light, while social media giants resist them.5
As I have also commented in other posts, a number of American Christians have been purposely targeted and martyred in mass shootings such as the one at Columbine High School in 1999 along with churches as occurred in Charleston, SC in 2015 and Sutherland Springs, TX in 2017.6 In agreement with all other observers here, none of what American Christians have suffered to date compares with the daily egregious and violent persecution our overseas brethren endure--yet! Praying for “the persecuted church” like it is some disconnected entity that exists only in non-exceptional, often impoverished nations of the world is about to change as persecutors intensify their efforts in America.7 And why? It is their “hour and the power of darkness,” (Luke 22:52-53, NKJV).
For this reason, beyond seeking to sensitize us to the ongoing suffering of our brethren wherever they are as a primary reason for this post, exhorting faithful American Christians to spiritually, mentally and emotionally prepare for the kind of hatred fed persecution our overseas brethren experience is an important secondary reason since our Lord has warned it is to occur in “all nations,” (Matthew 10:16-39, 24:9, NKJV).8 Now, is the time to awake from arrogance and apathy to get ready for what our Lord foretells and assures will take place. Among the equipping resources available is my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics and related group studies.9 The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 The organizational parent of Strong Man Ministries is Open Door Communication Ministries, Inc. I was led by the Lord to found August 12, 1985. Read some of the
stories of persecuted Christians among the many countries on the 2020 World Watch List of Open Doors USA.
2 What many of our brethren overseas “normally” suffer from their persecutors has been intensified during the Lord’s Coronavirus judgment. As we are banding together
with other Christians to help and encourage one another here at home, the Lord would have us remember our suffering persecuted brethren in those faraway lands
with tangible support as well (1 John 3:16-18).
3 Sadly, our military as a work place is no exception. Read about the case of Chaplain Curt Cizek.
4 To learn more about the experience of Christians on American campuses read the following ACLJ, Beliefnet and IsChristianityTrue articles.
5 I can attest to the heavy-handed resistance of Facebook to biblically conservative ministries such as this one among the social media giants. “Likes” to our pages by
Christians mysteriously dwindle after I write blogs or make posts on their platform that are not politically correct, tolerant etc. which the Lord has had me call them on.
They want me to believe that just making better posts and spending more money to “boost” them will remedy the situation though, such has not been the case since
they also limit the reach of the same. For the record, I do understand a to be expected number of professed Christians that formerly liked our Facebook pages are sub-
ject to “unlike” them at any time as a show of disagreement with me. I get that, but not what Facebook is doing which lately has even taken away page likes whenever
someone has liked a post! I urge Christians that have liked our pages and those of other ministries to check back periodically especially if you have not received a post
in your newsfeeds for a time and re-like the pages if necessary. Also, enlist other Christians on Facebook to like our pages after you have done so.
6 Read for example, the June 8, 2014 post, And Then There Is The War, under the category, instruction. Revisit the cited respective church shootings at the following
links Charleston, SC and Sutherland Springs, TX.
7 See the November 12, 2017 post, God’s Throwaways?, under the category, Bible Prophecy.
8 Read the two-part post beginning May 17, 2020, Persecution, Hatred And Betrayal, under the category, Bible Prophecy.
9 A print copy or digital download of the book published by the Publishing Division of Open Door Communication Ministries, Inc. with fresh editing in 2019 for greater clari-
ty and updated web addresses in the footnotes is available at major internet booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ChristianBooks.com and Apple (digital only).
You can also purchase a print copy in the Strong Man Store. Too, leaders can teach, disciple and equip through The Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study and The
Great Woman Of God Women’s Group Study also in the Strong Man Store.
After addressing the strategic use of television specifically to advance the evil cause of rebellion against God and His Anointed, He now leads me to speak to the use of the medium by professing Christianity.1 With a degree in Radio and Television Broadcasting, graduate degree in Communication and over thirty-five years in the field mostly heading up a small media ministry in the express will and facilitation of the Lord, He has qualified me to speak and so, I do in this urgent latter day post. In days soon to come, Christian broadcasting will be globally targeted for eradication which is why it must be maximized now in its use for God’s causes in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
To the credit of the initial Christian visionaries that understood God’s purposeful, creative hand in, vision for and use of the unfolding means of mass communication over the past century, there is such a thing as Christian broadcasting. For while the pioneers of radio and television broadcasting desperate for program content were initially welcoming of what was called religious programming mostly from Christian churches and their denominations, by the middle of the 1960s this began to slowly change due to the rising costs of production and air time and commercialism as well as the cultural shift toward secularism hostile to Christianity.
Television in particular--which provides pictures and sound--had such potential for good in the Kingdom cause of God to disseminate the Gospel of His Son and biblical instruction throughout the earth. This meant not only the opportunity to have men stand to preach and teach God’s Word, but to also be creative through such arts as drama. I feel blessed to be part of a unique generation that grew up watching the low tech clay animation of Davey and Goliath that presented important high moral lessons. The show was produced by the United Lutherans and featured the memorable hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, written by their famous founder, Martin Luther, as the theme music.
Nevertheless, the staple of Christian television fare has been worship services by large churches along with the preaching and teaching of their well known clergy. These churches and their denominational entities also provided holiday specials and helped to sponsor the televised specials of Evangelists such as the now departed Billy Graham, who was a trailblazer in the use of radio and television. Others in the Christian television vanguard include the also departed Paul Crouch, founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). Together, these have all given Christian television its global presence.
Christian television’s global presence has not come without some scandal. Most Christian television networks feature so-called televangelists that dominate their programming schedules because they pay for the air time. But this has led to much and in some cases, questionable fundraising due to extravagant lifestyles bred of success.2 There has also been sensational heretical and conflicting teaching as well as sinful cultural compromises such as with feminism that allows women to take authority over and teach men.3 Nondenominational stations and networks that dominate the Christian broadcasting landscape are hesitant to deal with these issues (if they in guilt too will at all) because of the loss of income involved in removing paying customers from the air.
While all of the foregoing damages the integrity of Christian television, the continuing Babel and cultural compromises undermine what is supposed to be its unified message and imagery of the Christian Gospel in action (1 Corinthians 1:10; Ephesians 4:1-6)! The biblical Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) is not heard enough, though, the Christian programmers, television stations and networks all claim they exist to preach it globally; endlessly raising money supposedly to this end. Instead, unlike worldly programmers of sin who do all say and show the same thing, many professed Christian preachers pitch their own conflicting takes on the Gospel and God’s Word as they compete for followers and dollars (Acts 20:30); exporting their Babel and unbiblical compromises to the nations!
As television is supposed to do, this televised unbiblical and confused state of affairs precisely mirrors the spreading harlotries and spiritual dysfunction in American Christianity; a situation that no one of sound mind and Word should attempt to defend. For whatever good there may currently be in Christian television, it has so much greater potential in saying the same thing as it concerns the soul saving Gospel message and being consistently biblical as a divinely useful tool of dissemination. It is to the glory of God that there is indeed, some good on Christian television. Of late, TBN, for example, has made major creative inroads in children’s, youth and ethnic programming on several dedicated networks.4 CBN has the only major professionally produced Christian News program on television.
Even so, repentance from tolerating Babel and compromise is absolutely needed to most effectively use the medium now. Enemies of the cross are shortly to target Christian television and all Christian media in the ramping up of foretold global persecution (Matthew 24:9). This is because in modern warfare, the means of mass communication are seized or knocked out as a priority. Christian persecutors up to and including the Antichrist will be allowed by God to finally silence all means of humanly communicating the Christian message (involving the Gospel, biblical truth and prophecy) in opposition to their own (Daniel 8:23-26; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12; Revelation 13). But God will get His message to the world by an angel one last time before bringing His wrath (Revelation 14:6-7)!5 The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 See the October 14, 2018 post, Grasping For Normal, under the categories, Bible Prophecy and Call To Repent.
2 Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker with their PTL empire at its height in the mid-1980’s have been among those so charged and are a tragic and globally known example.
Learn more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_PTL_Club.
3 The Lord leads me to explain why this compromise has been disastrous in the churches and for the Christian witness among the unsaved in many posts especially
under the categories Call To Repent, God’s Creatures, Instruction and The Cause as well as my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics. It is available at
all major internet booksellers, by order at your favorite brick and mortar bookstore or in the Strong Man Store.
4 The leading Christian network in the world shows flashes of the creative possibilities in television with original programming such as productions Drive Thru History
that has its host travel to key New Testament locations in the expansion of 1st century Christianity to explain events in an entertaining way and Creation In The 21st
Century upholding a biblical worldview of creation by interviewing Christian men and women of science and using well done displays, graphics and on location foot-
age. The Gospel is preached by such heavy hitters as Billy Graham in a “Classics” program that replays his crusades, Dr. Charles Stanley, Dr. David Jeremiah,
Greg Laurie and Dr. Michael Youssef to name some of the relative few that stand flat footed to regularly include it in their preaching and teaching. Learn more about
TBN at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_Broadcasting_Network.
5 Read the September 13, 2015 post, Praise For The Lord God Almighty!, under the category, Glory To God!
“Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love,” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14, NKJV). The foregoing verses are among the final exhortations to the church at Corinth by the apostle Paul in a deeply sobering letter filled with instruction and correction. I pray these verses will find their mark in the heart of every professing Christian American that reads this blog and is searching for how to handle the morality shift of our nation that is retracting the welcome mat Christianity once had in a God pleasing way. To be sure, Paul’s exhortation does not sit well with our reflexive American cultural mind set to go on the offensive for our rights.
However, he is exhorting us to watch for something far superior to America in her best days; we are to watch for the glorious Second Coming and Kingdom of our Lord as He also taught (Matthew 24:42-44)! We are not to back up on Him in the face of opposition, but literally stand still in the faith--biblical Christianity as it is written! We are to be courageous and strong in the Lord while the opposition presses in on us laboring as aspiring strong men and great women of God in Christ’s image (Ephesians 6:10-20)! Finally, we are to do all of what we do in love--the love supernaturally supplied to us by the Holy Spirit--for fellow believers and those who hate us (Romans 5:5).
Presently, many professing Christians are not giving heed to the apostle Paul’s exhortation and have instead, chosen the American way of fighting--which in the right situation legally is not wrong. But what the Lord led me to write in 2013 about a business situation close to home here in Portland with many similar instances around the nation, I remain steadfast in conviction is not the right one to fight since discrimination violates God’s commandment to us and man’s law. Christians are not to show partiality or if you will, discriminate against someone’s person in making judgments (Deuteronomy 1:16-18; 1 Timothy 5:19-21). The subjects of the 2013 blog have since been penalized by the governing authorities for discrimination and others face similar consequences.
In this edited repost of that blog, I use the hurtful experiences I and most of those of my race with other racial minorities have had in being discriminated against in America as a backdrop to try in love to help my mostly white, conservative evangelical Christian brethren get this right going forward. Based on the Anglo-centric mail that I have received from some organizations, though, I see not only that this original word from the Lord through me as an ignorant black man was ignored, but it appears something sadly predictable as another part of the American way is occurring: discriminated against racial minority Christians are intended to be left to themselves.1 Seriously, racism to the end? Where’s the love? Even so, my God will thwart this evil too and prove His Word right (Acts 27:9-21).
Originally Posted March 3, 2013
I greatly empathize with the position Aaron and Melissa Klein who own the bakery, Sweet Cakes By Melissa here in the Portland area have taken not to bake a wedding cake for a same sex couple. They have taken this position out of the biblical conviction that such marriages are wrong which of course, I also share. However, I do not believe they or any other Christian owner of a business open to the public has the right to refuse service to those whose lifestyle they morally disagree.
It would be one thing if this were a church or para-church organization and an immoral person came in demanding that these entities violate the tenets of their faith to allow the individual to become a member, be hired or receive services formally declared to be for Christians only. However, this situation is about Christians that own a business offering services to the general public without any stated restrictions (until now). By their own admission the bakery owners have gay customers and have served them previously.
As a black American, the whole situation is a painful reminder of the evil system of discrimination in this nation that legally permitted businesses to refuse service to blacks based simply on the color of our skin. If service was offered, blacks were humiliated in having to go to the back or side doors to receive it. Many of the white business owners then were good church members and believed they stood on Christian values in their discriminatory conduct as taught and reinforced by their leadership.
In shame, even many nominal white Christians today in honesty would have to admit this kind of targeted discrimination was morally wrong and unbiblical. Yet, many have stood to support the cause of this couple’s right to unlawfully discriminate (with thanks to God and the perseverance of those in the Civil Rights Movement, discrimination in public commerce and accommodations is illegal now) against two gay customers just because they want to marry each other which all Christians with a biblical worldview agree is wrong.
In line with the thinking of the late Chuck Colson and others concerned that we Christians hold to our biblical worldview in every corner of our nation’s secular culture, we are to engage unbelievers and rebels against the divine order in a winsome way. If Christians are going to open businesses serving everyone in the general public, they can be winsome about it for example, by using tactful signage that affirms in a positive way their standing as Christians with a biblical worldview. Their lifestyle, demeanor and conversation should also reflect the joy of relationship with Christ.
Any customers that come in know that this business owner is devoted to Christ and the Word of God and most will respect that. The few who do not respect this and want the Christian business owner to provide their product or service to them should be served in the love and humility of Christ who taught us to love our enemies and healed the cut off ear of one of the men sent to arrest Him (Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 22:49-51). The message on a receipt for a product or service rendered can share the Gospel or for instance, read: “Served with love from the God who loves and forgives sinners!”
As I wrote back on December 16, 2012 in the Powerlessness Of Being The Minority, Pt.1, Christians are fast becoming a despised minority in America. Christian businesses which are important and strategic outposts for the Gospel do not need to incite our future persecutors by unnecessarily breaking the law through discriminating against them at this stage of things. In short, while I commend their willingness to take a stand, this is not a Rosa Parks moment for the owners of Sweet Cakes By Melissa, other Christian business owners or Christians at large. If a Christian that owns a business open to the public cannot in good conscience serve same sex couples, close it down. Similarly, if thinking of opening a business with the same conviction, do not open it!
Truly, already Christians are being discriminated against and our values rejected by our once welcoming society (Matthew 5:11-12; Luke 6:22-23). We are not to return evil for evil (Luke 6:31; Romans 12:17-21). The foretold severe persecution just for being willing to confess Christ draws near. As aspiring strong men and great women of God we will have plenty of opportunities to take a stand for Christ and I hope many will in all faithfulness and obedience (Revelation 13, 14:9-13).
1 Examine the art work, photos and primary victims displayed in a sampling of white, conservative evangelical Christian publications addressing the impact cultural change is
having on largely white evangelicals. While most assuredly I appreciate what their proclaimed intentions are, in the 21st century, to call “an oversight” the failure to in- clude the continuing fight against discrimination by all racial minorities, but especially their brothers in Christ as a related and worthy cause is beyond incredible. Of course, being the president of a small non-profit, I do also see the fundraising dollars and cents of this “oversight.” Nevertheless, I hope our Christian readers from all
backgrounds will consider donating to our Ministry because of the fair, balanced and truthful way in the Lord I deal with everybody’s stuff including my own!
I wrote to guilty pastors, elders and churches in a January 27, 2019 post footnote, “How can you seriously expect the world to hear you from God’s Word and you do not even obey it?”1 The fact of the matter is blatant disobedience to God’s Word has characterized many professed Christians, their churches and other ecclesiastical bodies reaching back to the apostles (Romans 16:17-18; 1 Corinthians 5:1-2; Galatians 3:1-4). During the past 500 years, breakaway European Protestants protested the disobedience and corruptions of Catholicism only to find themselves in independence doing all of the same things as their mother (Revelation 17:1-6).
Both groups wickedly gave religious undergirding to the bigoted, violent and dehumanizing form of slavery my forefathers endured while passing down to them their manmade forms of Christianity the religion corruptly drawn from the Bible.2 Thanks to the continuing support of its many powerless manmade forms extant like yeast throughout American Christianity, racial bigotry and discrimination also remains a foil to the realization of a widespread display of biblically commanded, Holy Spirit fired love and brotherhood.3 This is to the glee of Satan who along with racial bigotry has initiated all of the deceitful strongholds of sin among the many harlot churches today God in His wrath will destroy (Amos 5:16-27; Revelation 16:17-19, 17:15-18:8)!4
Like our nation at this moment, American Christianity in the main is a racially divided house about to fall as I write in this edited 2013 Commentary.
Originally Published February 2013
The now deceased Rodney King's appeal, "Can we all get along" was moving, but not realistic for worldly men. His appeal came in the face of rioting after a 1992 trial acquitting white Los Angeles police officers of beating him that was captured on video and seen globally. For professed Christian American men, getting along in racial harmony is supposedly not to be the problem it is for worldly men since we have God resident in us. However, the nearly four centuries Christianity has been in America tragically presents contrary evidence. Aspiring strong men of God in the image of Christ celebrate diversity in His Body; fostering unity, harmony and where needed, healing.5
It is Black History Month again. The occasion may seem to be a purposeful discomfiting reminder to white Americans of the racism that once ran so deep among their forefathers, an attempt was made to destroy black contributions from American history. However, to prevent the loss of our history, help build appreciation in blacks and willing others, black educator and historian Carter G. Woodson created the special emphasis last century that now spans all of February. Nevertheless, as the uproar in Rodney King’s beating twenty years ago and subsequent events such as last year’s killing of black teenager, Trayvon Martin, show, racial tensions remain skin deep.6
Tensions are apparent too in churches that are racially homogeneous and wish to remain so. How could racial segregation as initiated by whites during slavery and continued by many of their descendants along with reciprocating black and other minorities professing to be Christians remain to this hour? Why can’t we come together in our racial diversity as Christians? As the Lord led, I explored this issue through a booklet I wrote in 2005 entitled, The Scourge Of Racism.7 In it, I conclude racism in the churches is a failure by professed Christians to obey the Lord's command to love one another (John 13:34-35).
I also write about the failure to love one another in a number of blog posts.8 This failure is tied to America's brand of Christianity the religion where impostors devoid of the Holy Spirit and weak believers quenching His fire in willful sin, practice all manner of evil including racism. America's Christian house is divided in defiance of the Lord all claim to follow and His teaching that "a house divided against a house falls," (Luke 11:17; NKJV). If the guilty do not repent from the toleration of racism and other sins that divide, the Lord's teaching will soon be fulfilled since it can be no other way (Luke 11:23, 21:33)!
As I assert in The Scourge Of Racism, God our Creator from the one man, Adam, has made us all different by purposeful design that mankind in all of their diversity might with common heart seek Him (Acts 17:24-28)! Our diversity of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, language, body size, abilities etc. is all to the glory of God in this present age and to be celebrated.9 This, the aspiring strong man and great woman of God in the image of Christ do! For we all in Christ have been brought together in our diversity as sons by God through Christ, the blood He shed to save us on Calvary's cross and the new birth by the Holy Spirit. In Him, men are God's household and forever family held together in divine love (Galatians 3:26-29; Ephesians 2:11-22, 3:14-21)!
This is biblical Christianity that will only continue to seem as high idealism and deluded wishful thinking to professed Christians in divided churches until authentic repentance and revival sweeps through. In repentance, professed Christian white men must cease assuming they are superior to their brothers of color; that every way they see things or idea they propose is right because of their self-appointed standing as superior. They must also give up the notion that men of color should despise themselves and embrace every white value to gain acceptance. Truly, all are to be like Christ and obey His command to love each other as He has loved us (1 John 3:10-24, 4:20-5:3).
Professed Christian black and other men of color in repentance must let go of legitimate anger not just for past, but God knows about the ongoing racial injustices we suffer among many of our white, ostensibly Christian brothers. Bitter victimization is appealing, but is not God's way of love that forgives rather than keeps records of wrongs suffered (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). Also, stop looking for sinful men to fully vindicate your suffering. As aspiring strong men of God in the image of Christ we are waiting for divine vindication that will occur when Christ soon returns--unless you scoff at His coming (2 Thessalonians 1:3-12; 1 Peter 2:19-23; 2 Peter 3:1-9)?10 The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 The quote is found in the eighth footnote of the post, Contending For God’s Design Of Masculinity In Men, under the category, The Cause.
2 Read the two-part, August 2016 post, Christianity The Religion Of Men, under the category, Instruction.
3 See Christianity The Religion American Style posted September 4, 2016 under the category, Call To Repent.
4 Much of Western Christianity (my fellow black Americans well represented) continues to want to idolatrously recast God away from His eternal holiness, righteousness,
justice and enduring commands for this mortal age with ear scratching preaching (2 Timothy 4:1-4) and emotion charged, supposedly loving, female led so-called wor-
ship in sin. The worshipper may have “enjoyed” what was taking place, but the issue is did God? The God of the Bible’s ancient rebuke stands as declared by the pro-
phet Amos in the Scripture listed to which this footnote refers. He does not accept nor is He pleased with worship no matter how sincere or emotional that is mixed with
sin! Truly, before Amos, the prophet Samuel proclaimed, “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice…” and the Lord Jesus: “If you love Me, keep my commandments,”
(1 Samuel 15:22-23; John 14:15, NKJV). Read the three-part series of posts beginning January 4, 2015, Worshipping God Without God, under the category, Call To
Repent. The Lord’s judgment of the unrepentant is just!
5 Learn more about the aspiring strong man and great woman of God in the image of Jesus Christ from my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics and compan-
ion instructional resource, The Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study. They are available in the Strong Man Store.
6 Read the two-part post beginning on July 29, 2018, The Racial Double Standard, under the category, Call To Repent.
7 The booklet is available on the Resources Page of our companion Web Site, https://fromslaverytovictory.org.
8 Read the four March 1-22, 2015 posts on love as an inescapable requirement of biblical Christianity under the category, Instruction.
9 See the December 6, 2015 post, Celebrating God’s Racial Diversity Initiative, under the category, Call To Repent.
10 Read When The Glory Comes, posted on November 29, 2015 under the category, Glory To God!
It is truly unfortunate, but not surprising that with all else our nation must deal with at this hour, unresolved racial issues have recently come to the surface again through the citizen and police murders of black Americans, freshly proving racism is not a past thing. The incidents and resulting explosion of initial violent rioting, looting, protest marches and rallies not just by black Americans, but Americans from every hue were sparked by the recorded video of a Minneapolis, MN police officer’s murder of black American male, George Floyd. I wrote about this incident as the Lord led June 21, 2020 in a post under the category, Black History, entitled Has Racial Justice Arrived in America?
This time, among the early voices speaking empathy and counsel into as well as engaging with the crisis are a number of especially younger conservative white Christians. Along with the manifold increase of white Americans across the political and social spectrum in general, conservative white Christians as America’s “moral majority” speaking anything but condemnation into a riotous racial crisis is recent. While there have been apologies for slavery and Jim Crow segregation and endless talking by white conservative Christians with amicable black clergy about racial reconciliation since the 1960s, as I have written in other posts, there has not been any real, widespread progress.1
Our majority white society as a once professed Christian nation propped up supposedly by morals and ethics drawn from the Bible, has far too long tolerated the abuse of its black and other citizens of color in many forms that actually run counter to it (Zechariah 7:8-12; Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:25-37; Romans 13:8-10). Not biblical Christianity as the order of the day since the nation’s founding, but corrupt, counterfeit manmade forms of it that even allowed for slave owners to commit adultery on their wives with their female slaves; church pastors, deacons and congregants to brutalize and terrorize blacks using burning crosses as a symbol of hate among many other evil acts.2
Such deeds were done while police, judges, educators, businesses, legislators (often as active participants) along with the larger white society through silent indifference were complicit.3 Over the past hundred years the most vocal champions of maintaining the morality of the Bible among professed Christians has been white Americans that self-identify as conservative in their religious, social and political convictions. Many are also intensely patriotic, devoted Americans who ascribe to the phrase “God and Country” as their motto though, on such issues as allowing systemic racism in their churches and other entities, God’s will in Christ has clearly been secondary (John 13:34-35).
However, at this strategic moment during God’s Coronavirus judgment when the festering sore of racial injustice has ruptured once more, younger conservative white Christians are speaking up perhaps finally perceiving, God Himself keeps bringing up the matter because those professing to know Him among their ranks have not dealt with it in accord with His written Word! After all, as I have offered in other posts, a “biblically conservative Christian” is supposed to be about objectively interpreting, applying and preserving the whole Word of God as it is written! In no place does it advocate for or tolerate hating a brother in Christ for any reason (1 John 2:7-11, 3:10-15, 4:20-21).4
Besides being and presenting the world a corrupt if not outright counterfeit form of biblical Christianity, guilty conservative white Christians (to include those calling themselves “Evangelicals”) have been hypocritical by insisting “our nation” uphold their cherry-picked morals and ethics from the Bible while they undergirded its systemic racism to this hour. This reality has been among the chief reasons many former biblically conservative black American Civil Rights activists searching for righteous allies over the years have abandoned the effort among their ostensible like-minded white brothers. Instead, those that are guilty through lack of faith in and impatience with God have to their shame taken up with rebels against Him for help (Psalm 2:1-3; Isaiah 30:1-5; Philippians 3:17-21).
The guilty among de facto apostate black Americans will give an account to God, but so will conservative white professed Christians who have been more loyal to a humanly invented religious, social and political philosophy that permits such sins as racism under the guise of Christianity than to the Lord who calls all to repent! Indeed, why but for sin am I as a black Ministry leader who has remained faithful as a biblical conservative not fully embraced and supported by conservative white professed Christians? Your sinful flesh built conservative philosophy does not welcome those of any race much less inferior black males who speak biblical truth challenging the wicked status quo; one white church elder once intimating this to me by essentially saying I needed to shut up!5
Now, though, the Lord during His Coronavirus judgment is plainly showing racism is one of the issues He is calling the guilty to repentance from among professing Christianity emptied out of its buildings. The authentic younger conservative white Christians coming forth repentant and in the power of the Holy Spirit to actually take a stand with their black brothers are representative of those I spoke of in my June 21st post.6 May the Lord bless you and all others to follow in what is very likely a last chance for conservative white Christians to get on the right side of the Bible and help forestall the eruption of greater ethnic conflict awhile longer in America; conflict ongoing in many parts of the world that fulfills another of the Lord’s foretold occurrences to precede His soon coming (Matthew 24:7a).
1 See the posts, Moral Pressure Rightly Applied, May 4, 2014, Biblical Equality And Equity, July 5, 2015 and Professing Christian Racism Is Sin Too, December 11, 2016
all under the category, Call To Repent.
2 Read the two-part post beginning August 21, 2016, Christianity The Religion Of Men, under the category, Instruction followed by Christianity The Religion American
Style (which shows how even many black religionists to this hour mimic the practice of it by their former masters so pervasive is it) posted on September 4, 2016 and
the two-part post beginning September 11, 2016, American Culture’s Religion, all under the category, Call To Repent.
3 Read the August 9, 2015 post, Silent Endorsers Of Evil, under the category, Instruction. Whether Christians or not, like the white pre-Civil War Abolitionists, it has been
heartening to see current white protest marchers for racial justice carrying signs with wording like “Silent no more” and “Not silent and complicit.”
4 See footnote #9 in the two-part post, The Racial Divide, under the category, Call To Repent, that begins July 29, 2018 to see how the Lord led me to make a distinction
between “conservative” and “biblically conservative” to avoid any confusion about the Christians faithfully obeying His whole Word as it is written! Also, read the April
19, 2015 post, On The Lord’s Side, under the category, The Cause, cited in the footnote for a discussion of why all professed Christians ought to be standing with the
Lord Jesus as Bible conservatives!
5 Get my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics to understand why aspiring strong men of God in the image of Jesus Christ from every hue must be willing to
stand and speak as He commands (Matthew 10:24-33)! Get a print copy or digital download of the book at major internet booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble,
ChristianBooks.com and Apple (digital only). You can also purchase a print copy in the Strong Man Store.
6 I invite those that are biblically conservative from all hues to stand with and support us at this like-minded Christian black American founded Ministry! The Ministry is cur-
rently engaged in a campaign to raise my 2020 full-time salary and is 63% there. Learn more at https://fundrazr.com/salarycampaign1. I am also seeking to raise the
funds necessary to license the music used in and Webcast our still relevant 1994 radio docu-drama, From Slavery To Victory: One Man’s Journey that presents a biblical
worldview of the black American experience from West Africa on our From Slavery To Victory Education Project Web Site, https://fromslaverytovictory.org.
I open Black History Month 2018 as the Lord leads yet again to speak the truth from His Word to professed Christian black Americans to inform our ongoing uplift in this and the three reposts that follow. Having been publically upbraided many times for speaking the truth in love, I do not relish naming names to address grave spiritual error that exists as impediments to our progress. However, in these instances, it was unavoidable. My Christmas Eve 2017 post entitled, “Hedging One’s Religious Bets,” under the category, Instruction serves as the general backdrop for this edited 2012 repost warning specifically about abandoning the faith that has brought us this far.
Originally Posted September 9, 2012
While awaiting my turn at the barbershop recently, I picked up Ebony Magazine--that ubiquitous print icon of the black community from my childhood--and once again encountered an approach to Christianity that has clearly become a liberalizing trend away from the faith of the Bible and our faithful Christian slave forefathers. Oh, the magazine still features prominent black religious figures and churches. However, as in most Western societies over the past generation, there has been an unmistakable shift away from honoring the unique message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the absolute truths and morality of biblical Christianity.
Today, what is frequently offered is a more generic, politically correct and culturally tolerant form of the faith as one of many possible means a person choosing religion as a path can make it work for them. As historically, pastors and churches are leading the way. A case in point is the May 2012 issue of Ebony I was browsing through that featured an article by Rev. A.R. Bernard, the founder and senior pastor of Christian Cultural Center out of Brooklyn, N.Y., entitled, 9 Habits That Lift The Soul.1 According to its set up information, the article is intended to help those wanting to “breathe new life into your spiritual journey” to do so.
This was a great set up and I actually began to read the article with hopes this “Christian” preacher would share some great biblical insights for those seeking what can only come from a personal relationship with the One, true God through faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God alone (John 14:6). But alas, in the opening sentence my discernment warning lights starting flashing off the charts. In introducing the nine principles to “keep stress and chaos at bay” he has taught members of his congregation, Rev. Bernard writes, “Although these principles are God-centered and Biblical, they apply in general, no matter what your belief system is,” (emphasis mine).
His nine principles are prayer, spiritual study, worship, solitude, giving and service, fasting, reflection, discernment and sharing your story. I will not go through them all, but the first three certainly do speak in a general way to persons of any religious persuasion, but makes some incorrect assumptions in a biblical worldview. He says, for example, “daily prayer is a way to practice an awareness of God.” On the surface, of course, this is true of praying to God. The problem here is with thousands of religions in the world, it appears this “Christian” preacher is falsely assuming as many non-Christians do that all of them really have the same deity or the deities are all equal.
He goes on to counsel not just talking, but listening to “God.” For Christians who take the God of the Bible at His Word that He is the only true God, this is excellent counsel (Isaiah 43:10-13, 44:6-8). But who will everyone else be talking and listening to? Of spiritual study Rev. Bernard says, “Every religion is based on its writings. Whichever faith you subscribe to, become intimately acquainted with the writings that inspire it.” Has God truly made thousands of religious texts among different peoples that all harmoniously present His essential truths and bring them closer to Him? No (Deuteronomy 4:5-14, 32-35; Psalm 147:19-20; Romans 3:1-2, 9:1-5; 2 Timothy 3:14-17)!
Concerning worship, Rev. Bernard writes, “This means practicing the sovereignty of God over your life. It’s a reminder that you’re part of something much greater than yourself.” Even atheists can get in on this since they “believe in the universal moral principles that govern humankind.” “Worship,” he goes on to say, “is about acknowledging the power of that which rules your life.” But while this all sounds noble, Jesus Christ says worship of God the Father is done in “spirit and truth” exclusively through Him (John 4:23-24, 14:6, 17:17, NKJV). What then are those outside of Christ worshipping?
No doubt for the sake of the liberal minded inventions of political correctness and tolerance in this 21st century, Ebony Magazine as so many other Western media and institutions of men feel obligated to speak broadly to the widest possible swath of humanity without offending anyone--anyone except Bible believing Christians anyway. However, for the record and those professed Christians that for whatever motive would attempt to create a generic Christianity for mass consumption, the Scripture is plain that Christianity is not a religious invention of man that is generic enough for non-believers to live out bypassing Christ, His cross and the empowering work of the Holy Spirit. To teach so is heresy and a doctrine of demons (Galatians 1:1-10; 1 Timothy 4:1-2)!
We preachers especially walk in Christ’s footsteps heralding the message He brought from Heaven to proclaim to humanity (Matthew 4:23). We do not have the right or authentic release ever from Christ to preach our own or any other message. If you are doing so: fear (2 Corinthians 5:9-11)! Our faithful Christian slave forefathers as aspiring strong men and great women of God did not practice some generic version of Christianity.2 They “got over” trusting solely in the God of the Bible and His Son, Jesus Christ.3 They prayed to Him; they stood on His Word; they turned from idols, witchcraft and ancestor worship among other religious practices to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob alone.
“We have come this far by faith” in the Lord God of the Bible and no-one else!4 Are we now so free and in with the world so good we can turn our backs on Him? Repent anyone who thinks so (James 4:1-10)! Or, do you also despise the example and lessons God has given through the written experience of Israel in the Bible (1 Corinthians 10:1-11; Hebrews 3:7-19)? And with regard to enjoying real peace in a chaotic, trouble and stress filled world, let every seeker find it where it can only be found in Jesus Christ who is the “Prince of Peace,” (Isaiah 9:6; John 14:27, 16:33; Philippians 4:6-7, NKJV). The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 Find the article at Ebony.com.
2 Learn more about strong men and great women of God in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics available through all major internet booksellers, by order
from your favorite brick and mortar bookstore and in the Strong Man Store.
3 Read a previous Black History Month post, How We Get Over published on February 16, 2014 to understand what is meant by “got over.”
4 Step through the short presentation giving a biblical worldview of the black experience on The From Slavery To Victory Education Project Web Site Home Page at
www.fromslaverytovictory.org.
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